Shadows (Sequel to Rip My Heart Out)

Chapter 8

I looked at him for a moment. Something about his dark eyes never failed to set me at ease. I lifted a hand to his cheek, then ran my hand through his blonde hair. "You're pretty smart, you know."

He laughed. "No one has ever accused me of that before."

I smiled back. "Well, it's true. You always know exactly what to say." I said.

We looked at each other for a minute. I watched his face turn from content to anxious. He stood and started pacing back and forth in front of me again.

"What are we going to do about the vision the Infinity Stone gave you?" He asked.

"We can't let that happen to everyone. You should have seen them, Piet. I mean, Wanda, Clint and Sam all locked up and then Bucky, Steve and Tony trying to kill each other. I just don't get it. I mean how do you think it even came to that?" I said.

"I don't know, but we need to do whatever we can to stop it." He said.

"People might find out about you, that you're still alive, I mean." I said.

"And they will find out about you. The public is already terrified of what Wanda can do after Lagos. How do we do this?" He asked.

I took a deep breath and rested my elbows on my knees. "I have no idea." I said.

"And what about Loki? What do you think his plan is anyway?" Pietro asked.

I groaned and threw myself back on the bed with my arms outstretched. "I don't know. He wants control of the Space Stone, that's obvious. I guess he figured using me was the best way to do that. But what he's actually planning, I have no idea." I said.

Pietro stopped pacing and sat down on the bed beside me. I folded my left arm over my chest and he threw himself down next to me where it had been. "Do you think it's always going to be like this? Do you think we'll always be fighting gods and making giant universe-shaping decisions?"

I propped myself up on my elbow so I could look at him. "I think I always will, yes, but it's my burden to bare, and if it's too much for you, I understand. I really would."

My breath caught in my throat as I watched and waited for him to respond. At first, he just lay there, looking at the ceiling for what seemed like about four years, but was probably only a few seconds. Then, without warning, he was kissing me. He'd closed the distance between us in a nanosecond, and my chest pulsated wildly.

"Wherever you go, I go, forever." He said when he finally pulled away. "I wasn't asking because I want out. I'm asking because I want us to be prepared, together."

I felt my eyes water and I tried to blink back the tears before he noticed. "I'm sorry everything is so complicated."

"Don't be. We've never not been complicated. I knew what I was getting into." He said with a crooked smile that made the stone in my chest pulse even more rapidly.

He ran his thumb over my cheek quickly, wiping away a tear that had escaped from my eye. "We'll figure it all out. I'm smart, remember. And you're the bravest and strongest person I know. I would bet on us."

I smiled. "Me too."

I felt someone walk onto the Avenger's facility that wasn't usually there. Of course something else would come up right now and ruin my moment with Piet. I placed a shadow next to him and instantly recognized him from Tony's meeting in DC.

"This can't be good." I mumbled.

"What?" Piet asked.

"Hold on." I said.